Skiff Light Harness Review

Posted: Tue 8th February 2005 in Dinghy

Until recently I've been a Cat sailor with a strappy trapeze harness. The straps on both my Crewsaver and Magic Marine harnesses catch all over the place on the I14, so I got new one. The Magic Marine Skiff light claims to be for skiff type sailors, unlike most nappy harnesses its got adjustment straps, but unlike other nappies they're hidden under Velcro side panels.

Firstly the Velcro side panels do actually work. You don't get caught on stuff. My crew nearly had us in several times catching the trapeze elastic etc. He was wearing my old Magic Marine spreader bar and strap harness. This old harness is particularly bad as it has huge plastic buckles on the side with the release tab facing forward. I've seen cleats that are less effective than these at grabbing rope. I used to wear it with one of those magic marine silver Lycra over the top vests. Which are great. The skiff light was considerably better than the other one and the over smock combination. Though the smock was OK, its nothing like as good at not snagging as it rides up at the back some times.

Comfort. Well I'm 6'4. for those metric people out there that's bloody tall. I'm also skinny. Used to be 11.5 Stone (>80Kg) nowadays I'm more like 14 stone. Still skinny though. My Previous Harness of about 18 months age was a MEDIUM. The problem I have is a medium arse and long, long body. To get around this I added strap to the shoulders. My 6'2 house mate has longer legs than me. So I'm weird. My harness before that was a Crewsaver EXTRA LARGE. very comfortable on the shoulders but room for 2 in the bum. Now the new Skiff Light, a large (Magic Marine have a waist size chart which is a good thing). Well you get pressure around the waist. Its a nappy par for the course. but to be honest I didn't even notice it when on the water. Also the load on the shoulders appears reduced. I suggest the tight fitting around the waist transfers more load into you bum and less to the shoulders... that's a guess either that or it didn't need to be as tight on the shoulder straps. In its favor it didn't ride up me bum like every strappy job does. I always use to end up with the thigh straps in my groin and rubbing. Because of the flexy back you don't even notice it on land (accept the strange places you wedding tackle ends up in).

Verdict actually MORE comfortable than a spreader bar harness. But that's probably my weird bod. Definitely good for the tall and thin. So far I've only worn it over a Dry suit, so we'll see when the wetsuit bit comes along. You don't even notice your wearing it - which could be a problem one day I wont be wearing it and in the drink we'll go (again).